Showcasing designers, artists, retailers we love, while at the same time, showing off our amazing technology!

10/19/2010

While on a fishing trip to France, angler Raphael Biagini captured this 30lb orange koi carp. Roughly the size of a small child, this giant goldfish had become something of a legend in the area, and had allegedly been eluding other fishermen for the past six years. While the fish put up a bit of a fight, it took Raphael about ten minutes to reel it in on his first attempt.

Zoom in to get a better look at what is, as far as we know, the world's largest goldfish!

09/17/2010

Inspired by what she calls the "Whirlwind of Life", Noël Rohayem tackles this idea both literally and figuratively in this collection, titled Tordue.
Noël plays with the concept of air and how it interacts with garments as the wearer walks and moves around in them. Several of her pieces, at the back, feature a variation on a parachute. Having constructed each differently, the parachutes interact with the air in distinctly unique ways, giving each garment its own mood or character through movement.

As an interesting contrast to the parachute, Noël designed custom lace pieces, which of course, allow the air to pass right through. Click through to see more examples from Noël Rohayem's senior collection!

08/11/2010

For her senior collection, California College of the Arts grad, Kaylin Andres, drew from several sources for inspiration. The most significant of these being her own battle with cancer at age 23. Her secondary sources for inspiration were the French Rococo period, 1970's Glam/Punk Rock style, and German artist and surrealist photographer, Hans Bellmer.

07/27/2010

Taking inspiration from the lush, beautiful and strikingly diverse natural landscape of her home country of Nicaragua, Alexandra Vaughan's accessories and garment collection has an undeniably earthy, almost primordial feel. Boasting several significant and unique ecosystems, Nicaragua is one of the most biologically diverse countries in the world. This is well reflected in her use of color, materials and almost primitive style, but the overall design retains a certain sophistication.

In keeping with her theme, the fabrics are hand dyed and in some cases hand knit. The stones are semi-precious and some are even stitched into a few of the garments. Alexandra also managed to incorporate vintage exotic furs native to Nicaragua that were passed down from her grandmother. Not only are these incredibly beautiful and unique, they are definitely a touchingly personal contribution to this collection.

07/22/2010

The first thing that draws me to Tink Wong's thesis collection is her gorgeous color palette, composed primarily of varying warm hues of orange and purple paired with grey and/or beige. Tink's inspiration for this palette came from New York City night lights. Though, these colors are personally reminiscent of the New York summer skyline just before sunset, with the bits of color in the pin stripe of the grey jacket or pant mimicking the reflections of the sky in the glistening grey buildings. Either way, the effect is beautiful and very New York!

In this collection, Tink also plays with contrasts between masculine and feminine. This is most obviously apparent in the very masculine, businesslike cut of the grey pinstripe pieces, which are then paired with a feminine skirt or a flower detail on a shirt. Another example would be her tailcoat cut jacket made feminine by its color, which is a soft pale purple, and other details such as a white tassel.

07/15/2010

My favorite thing about Tiffany Folsom's collection, other than the impressive fact that the entire thing is hand sewn, is that it is very much inspired by the physicality of the women who will wear the clothes. While she did of course design each piece to fit her various clients as any designer would, she actually went further by drawing her inspiration from who these women are physically and what distinctive attributes make them sexy and beautiful. Therefore, while the garments are lovely and unique in their own right, they seem to actually work with the woman to adorn and, dare I say, enhance her beauty, rather than merely eclipse and upstage her, as can sometimes be the case in fashion.

Each piece is composed of a unique fabric fusion. For instance, the gown pictured above is made primarily of leather, with an accent of stitched tulle over the front piece. Click through to see the front of the dress.

I should also mention that this beautiful couture gown was hand selected by Saks Fifth Avenue and, during Parsons School of Design graduation week this May, was displayed in their New York City store front.

07/12/2010

Kailin Wang's inspiration for this collection came from the ancient, circular symbol of a serpent swallowing its own tail, known as the Ouroboros, which represents the cyclical nature of life and the idea of continuity. She explores this idea by limiting her use of seams, and thereby giving the appearance that her garments are made from one continuous plane of fabric. Her designs are simple, and embellished only by small intricate details using crochet.

While her clothes are meant to be incredibly comfortable and wear-able, they are visually elegant and quite sophisticated. This gives her collection a sort of enduring and universal appeal, which also ties in very nicely with the idea of the Ouroboros.

07/09/2010

Meet New York based designer, Remiel Wai Kar Loh, originally hailing from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and recent Parsons grad!

Based on the concept of the Jungle, Remiel brings together his love for both urban and natural versions of this landscape, and certainly in this collection, he touches on the "wild side" of both. His clothes have an edgy and modern feel, which is countered by a lush sensual quality, brought about by his warm colors and soft flowing fabrics.

07/07/2010

In her collection, aptly entitled Illusion, Emily Pierdinock-Hagen's use of reverse appliqué techniques to create material as well as graphical illusions, is brilliantly inspired from the First World War British naval camouflage technique, known as Dazzle Ships. The technique, first developed by artist Norman Wilkinson, was intended not to actually hide the ships, since that had proven to be futile, but was instead designed to confuse the enemy as to the ship's size, shape, direction and speed.

The dress above is an example of her play with materiality, because you probably wouldn't have guessed that it is actually made from copper. When you click through you will see some really fun pieces that more literally mimic the look and design of the Dazzle ships.

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